Iowa 85, Ohio State 72: 3 Takeaways, Highlights

IOWA CITY -- The Iowa men's basketball team snapped a three-game losing streak Saturday night with an 85-72 victory over Ohio State.

Here are three takeaways from the game.

1. No Jok, no problem?

OK, let's not get too carried away. Iowa got a decisive, complete win against Ohio State on Saturday night, 85-72, and did so without star guard Peter Jok, who was out because of his back.

That does not mean, however, the Hawkeyes are better without their leading scorer.

Iowa played well because it was more active and moved the ball at a much better rate offensively. That's happened with Jok in, but hadn't in the last three games. Fran McCaffery likely had them working hard on it this week.

2. The Ellingson Show

One of the guards was going to have to step up for the Hawkeyes and Saturday night it was Ellingson.

The sophomore finished with a game-high 17 points on 6 of 9 shooting and 5 of 7 from 3.

He found himself open quite a bit, but worked himself open, too. He cashed in either way. He'd been absent offensively for a while, so Saturday should do wonders for him.

3. Essential factors

In Iowa's losses, outside of the defensive lapses, there have been a few common threads: getting beat on the glass, turning the ball over at a high rate and not capitalizing on forced turnovers.

Saturday night saw the Hawkeyes grab 12 offensive rebounds and score 17 second-chance points. They had 18 points on 12 OSU turnovers, and committed just nine themselves.

It wasn't all perfect, but that's the recipt McCaffery has looked for all season.

Read More

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